Force India VJMO6 F1 race car revealed: Bianchi or Sutil for 2013?

This is the third car which has been designed and supervised by Andrew who is the Technical Director of the team. Previous models were the VJMO1 which was powered by a Ferrari engine and VJMO2 that was powered by a Mercedes Benz engine.

The new race car model doesn’t differ to its predecessor to a great extent, but includes a high performance, tuned Mercedes Benz engine under its skin. A notable change is the nose design used to hide the step so as to provide a smooth airflow over the chassis. Paul di Resta, the team’s race car driver, unveiled this car during an event in Britain, where many thought the Vijay Mallya owned team would reveal the identity of their second driver. The only Indian outfit, or as Jalopnik says, its more of a Nation’s Fastest Billboard, in the premier racing event, is yet to zero in on their second driver.

Force India has revealed their schedule for Jerez, where Jules Bianchi will get a chance to get behind the wheel for a full day, whereas Adrian Sutil does not feature in the list of names for Jerez test. Work on the new 2013 car started during the mid of last year and much effort was put on providing it with a fluidic design for optimum drivability. Scroll down for quotes.

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Dr Vijay Mallya, Team Principal, said, “The VJM06 doesn’t look massively different to its predecessor, but beneath the skin we’ve looked at every detail to try and find more performance. I’ve followed the development of the car closely and I’m proud of what we have achieved. The objective now is to make sure we build on the promise of last year and have a strong start to the season.”

Paul Di Resta, said, “Seeing the car built and complete for the first time is a special feeling. I’ve followed its progress in the tunnel and it looks very impressive – aggressive and fast. Now I’m just eager to get out there and see where we stand compared to our competitors. After the winter I feel refreshed and keen to get back to business.”

Andrew Green said, “It’s a brand new car from the ground-up – everything is new. We discussed carrying over big chunks of last year’s car, including the chassis, but decided not to. There were still some gains to be had with the chassis, so we elected to take the performance benefits. The biggest change that everybody is going to notice this year is the fairing on top of the nose to hide the ‘step’. It’s neutral as far as the car’s performance is concerned but tidies up the flow over the top of the chassis.”

Otmar Szafnauer, Chief Operating Officer, said, “We’re very optimistic. We’ve been working hard over the winter, trying to make improvements where we know we can find performance. Everything has come together very nicely. We’ve also focussed on operational strength by bolstering our simulator programme and increasing our CFD capacity with new hardware.”